An oilman and conservationist is retiring from Yale's governing board, to be replaced by a moneyman and cofounder of Bain Capital. At the same time, a college president will succeed a retired art museum director as Yale alumni representative on the board.
The new members of the Yale Corporation are Catharine “Cappy” Hill’85PhD, an economist and president of Vassar College, and Bain managing director Joshua Bekenstein ’80.
Hill, elected this spring by alumni, will succeed Mimi Gardner Gates’81 PhD, former director of the Seattle Asian Art Museum. Both Hill's research and her presidency at Vassar have focused on "affordability of and access to higher education," the Yale announcement says:
Under Hill’s leadership, Vassar reinstated need-blind admissions and replaced loans with grants in financial aid for low-income families. Vassar also admitted 11 veterans to the Class of 2017 through a joint initiative with the Posse Foundation. . . . Hill also teaches an advanced-level seminar at Vassar on the economics of higher education.
Bekenstein succeeds trustee Edward Bass’67, ’72ArtA. He brings "many years of experience both as a senior executive of a large investment firm and as a director of companies in various business sectors," as well as years of volunteer service at Yale: on the Investment Committee, the School of Management Board of Advisers, the University Council, the $3.88 billion Yale Tomorrow Campaign, and the Yale Development Council.
Their terms begin July 1, the same as that of president-to-be Peter Salovey ’86PhD.